Looking towards the future, the great Jesuit theologian Karl Rahner suggested that all Christians would have to become mystics if their faith was to continue to have anything to offer the world. By this he meant not that they would have to be constantly hearing supernatural voices or seeing heavenly visions, but that they would need to be able to present a faith rooted in their personal experience of God rather than simply repeating and relying upon doctrinal formulae that they had received. Of course, trying to articulate your own experience in the light of that of others is a more challenging task than simply passing on time-worn formulations. But, crucially, doing so may well be the only effective way to convince an age that respects the witness of life much more than it does abstract teaching.
Tom Carson, ‘Ignatius, Gratitude and Positive Psychology: Does Ignatian Gratitude develop Subjective Well-Being?’, 7–19
The question of whether the practice of spirituality has any measurable effects in the life of the practitioner is a fascinating one. Tom Carson addresses it by focusing upon gratitude as a key attitude promoted within Ignatian spirituality. Can this atti
Ruth Agnes Evans, ‘The Marian Antiphon of Francis Bernardone: A Reflection upon the Relationship of the Virgin Mary with her Son in The Office of the Passion of St Francis’, 21–32
In his Office of the Passion, St Francis of Assisi rearranged quotations from the scriptures to form fifteen ‘new’ psalms. Although he puts these words into the mouth of Jesus, much is revealed in them about Francis himself. Here Ruth Evans considers what
Robert R. Marsh, ‘Discovering Joy: Four Thought Experiments for the Fourth Week’, 33–41
The final main section of the Spiritual Exercises, the ‘Fourth Week’, deals with the resurrection of Christ. Rob Marsh believes that it is often given short shrift, both in theory and by directors in practice. He here proposes four ‘thought experiments’ that might help us to understand and appreciate this part of Ignatius’ programme more fully.
Harvey D. Egan, ‘The Mystical Theology of Karl Rahner’, 43–62
The twentieth-century theologian Karl Rahner believed that in the future Christians would be mystics, or they would be nothing. He also acknowledged that it was difficult to arrive at an agreed definition of mysticism. Harvey Egan here examines Rahner’s mystical theology, asking what this can tell us about a ‘mysticism of everyday life’.
Ludger Joos, ‘Magis—The Search for More: Discernment of Spirits with Young Adults’, 63–70
For almost a decade now Jesuits have been running youth programmes under the heading Magis, a term used in Ignatian spirituality to mean ‘more’ or ‘greater’. At the heart of these programmes is the process of discernment, acquiring the tools to be able to
Norman Todd, ‘Metanoia and Transformation II: Fourteen Points’, 71–86
In this second part of his essay (begun in the January 2013 issue), Norman Todd adapts the ‘fourteen points for management’ described by W. Edwards Deming to the transformation of the contemporary church. He argues that such transformation is constantly n
Keith Ravenscroft, ‘‘A Raid on the Inarticulate’:Eliot’s Four Quartets and the Christian Journey.’, 87–100
Antonio Guillén, ‘Praise: The Fundamental Attitude in the Church’, 101–112
Towards the end of the Spiritual Exercises Ignatius included a series of guidelines for ‘thinking within the Church’. Many of these are framed in terms of aspects of church life and practice that are to be regarded as praiseworthy. Antonio Guillén asks what this might have meant in the sixteenth century, and how far it might still be useful for us today.